Cell pacing on a network link employing a rate-based flow control protocol with underlying credit-based flow control mechanisms

ABSTRACT

A network device operates to control the clumping of cells on a connection using a rate-based flow-control protocol. In each of successive intervals, a number N is calculated representing the maximum number of cells permitted to be transmitted consecutively. N is calculated as the quotient from dividing a cell delay variation tolerance (CDVT) by the difference between the reciprocal of an allowed cell rate (ACR) and the reciprocal of a link cell rate (LCR). If the calculated quotient is greater than a number N RM  for the connection indicating the maximum number of data cells allowed between forward flow-control cells, then N is set equal to N RM . A value C is calculated as the largest integer factor of N RM  that is no greater than N, and the interval is then divided into N RM /C sub-intervals. No more than C cells are allowed to be transmitted on the connection in each of the sub-intervals. This limit is enforced using a credit mechanism in which no more than C credits are extended to a cell transmitter in each sub-interval.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to the field of data networks such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, and more particularly to flow-control techniques used to control the transmission of data in data networks.

The term “flow control” generally refers to intentional control exercised by network components over data traffic in the network to achieve desired operational results. For example, flow control can be used to minimize or prevent loss of data cells resulting from the overflowing of receive buffers used by various network components to temporarily store data traffic. Flow control can also be used to enforce an agreed-upon transmission capacity, or rate, available to a customer or to a network element carrying traffic from a number of customers.

One known flow-control protocol used in ATM networks is referred to as “Quantum Flow Control” or QFC. The QFC protocol can be applied to network links and/or individual virtual connections to provide a desired quality of service (QOS). One significant feature of the QFC protocol is its ability to guarantee that no transmitted cells are lost, or discarded, due to insufficient buffering at the receive end of a link or connection. To achieve this result, the QFC protocol employs a messaging scheme and associated functionality within participating network elements based on the concept of transmission credits. Transmission credits are maintained in a “pool” data structure at the transmitting end of a link or connection. A credit is consumed for each cell (or group of cells of a predetermined size) transmitted on the link or connection. The credits are replenished in response to explicit messages sent to the transmitter from the receiver. In general, the receiver extends additional credits as the received cells are forwarded out of the receiver's cell buffer. The transmitter is permitted to transmit cells only as long as there are credits in the pool. If the pool of available credits becomes empty, the transmitter must wait until the next replenishment from the receiver before resuming the transmission of cells.

Another known flow-control protocol used in ATM networks is referred to as “Explicit Rate” or ER. The ER protocol utilizes messages to convey rate information explicitly between a transmitter and a receiver. A forward-type message is used by the transmitter to inform the receiver of the actual transmission rate or a currently allowed maximum transmission rate. The receiver uses this information to generate backward-type messages that inform the transmitter whether its actual or allowed maximum transmission rate should be changed, and if so to what value. In turn, the transmitter uses the information in the backward-type messages to control its transmission rate. On a typical bidirectional link, both forward and backward flow-control messages are flowing in each direction between the respective transmitter/receiver pairs.

Connections in an ATM network can be configured in a variety of ways to meet the needs of different traffic types. These types include Constant Bit Rate (CBR), Variable Bit Rate (VBR), Available Bit Rate (ABR) and Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR), these being arranged in descending order of the strictness of their respective transmission requirements. On a CBR connection cells must be transmitted at exactly a specified rate with constant cell spacing. CBR connections are used to carry delay-sensitive data, for example real-time streaming video data. In a VBR connection, cells are transmitted at a specified average cell rate, within a certain specified tolerance. In an ABR connection, cells are transmitted at a generally varying rate maintained between a specified minimum value (which may be zero) and a specified maximum value. For UBR connections, no guarantees are made regarding even a minimum data transmission rate.

Data traffic for each class of connection can be thought of as having two distinct components, one at a “sustained” rate and one at a “variable” rate. In a CBR connection, for example, all of the traffic is carried at a sustained rate equal to the specified constant bit rate; the variable component is substantially zero. VBR and ABR connections generally have a non-zero sustained component along with a non-zero variable component, and UBR connections have a zero sustained component. Network devices such as switches take these characteristics into consideration when allocating link transmission bandwidth for connections. That is, bandwidth is allocated in a fixed or scheduled manner for the sustained component of a connection, and in a dynamic manner for the variable component. A transmission time slot is made available for dynamic allocation only if there is no scheduled cell to transmitted. The dynamically-assigned bandwidth generally must be shared by multiple connections. An arbitration mechanism is used to allocate this bandwidth to the connections in a fair manner.

One important aspect of the cell transmission pattern on a connection is the spacing of the cells. For a CBR connection, the spacing is predictable and constant. For a VBR or ABR connection, the cell spacing is more variable. Cell buffering is employed in network devices to accommodate the variability, and flow control may be used to minimize cell loss while maintaining a given data rate. When a VBR or ABR connection is carried on a link along with several other active connections, the cells constituting the variable component of the connection are usually spaced apart by the normal action of the arbitration mechanism. That is, adjacent cells for a given connection are generally separated by a number of cells from the various other connections that share bandwidth on the link.

However, under lighter traffic conditions the cells constituting the variable component of a connection may be susceptible to “clumping”, i.e., transmission in bursts of several cells having little or no spacing. Clumping is a manifestation of what is referred to as “cell delay variation” or CDV. The amount of CDV allowed for a connection can be specified by a configuration parameter called cell delay variation tolerance (CDVT). As described below, clumping may have deleterious effects on some network connections. For a CBR connection, or more generally the sustained component of any connection, clumping is avoided by normal cell scheduling operation as described above. However, this mechanism is not available to control clumping of the cells constituting the variable component of a connection.

Connections using the QFC flow-control protocol generally exhibit a high tolerance for cell delay variation. This is because a substantial amount of cell buffer storage is used in order to guarantee zero cell loss in accordance with the QFC specification. This buffer storage inherently accommodates cell clumping.

In contrast, ER connections can be more sensitive to clumping, because the ER protocol does not presuppose the existence of substantial cell buffering as does QFC. Moreover, it is generally the practice to use fixed scheduling only to achieve the minimum cell rate on an ER connection. Most of the traffic has link bandwidth allocated dynamically, and therefore is susceptible to clumping. Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to control the degree of clumping or cell delay variation on network links such as ER links that rely considerably on dynamically allocated link bandwidth.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus are disclosed for controlling the transmission of cells on a connection such that cell clumping is maintained within specified limits. The technique is particularly suited for use with a rate-based flow-control protocol such as the Explicit Rate (ER) protocol.

In each of successive transmission intervals, a number N is calculated that represents the maximum number of cells permitted to be transmitted consecutively. N is calculated based on a generally variable allowed cell rate (ACR) which is prevailing for the connection for the interval. For example, N is the quotient obtained by dividing a predetermined cell delay variation tolerance (CDVT) by the difference between the reciprocal of the ACR and the reciprocal of a link cell rate (LCR). In general, N is less than a number N_(RM) that indicates the maximum number of data cells allowed between ER forward flow-control cells. If the calculated quotient is greater than N_(RM), N is set equal to N_(RM).

A value C is then calculated as the largest integer factor of N_(RM) that is no greater than N, and the transmission interval is divided into N_(RM)/C sub-intervals. No more than C cells are allowed to be transmitted on the connection in each of the sub-intervals. In a disclosed network interface module, this limit is enforced through use of a credit mechanism in which no more than C credits are extended to the cell transmitter in each sub-interval.

Through the use of the above technique, cell clumping is kept to within acceptable limits for data link connections that employ a rate-based flow-control protocol such as the Explicit Rate protocol. Additionally, the technique exploits existing control mechanisms used in credit-based flow control protocols such as QFC, and therefore can be used efficiently in logic that provides configurable support for either ER or QFC connections.

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention are disclosed in the detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following Detailed Description in conjunction with the Drawing, of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art network employing the credit-based Quantum Flow Control (QFC) flow control protocol;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a network employing the Explicit Rate (ER) flow control protocol along with the QFC flow control protocol in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a network switch in the network of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a prior-art service interface module (SIM) in the switch of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a SIM in accordance with the present invention in the switch of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of ER Virtual Source and Virtual Destination logic in the SIM of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 7-9 are flow diagrams showing various operations of the ER Virtual Source and Virtual Destination logic of FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a timing diagram of a hypothetical pattern of cell transmission on an ER network link by the SIM of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 11 is a timing diagram of a real pattern of cell transmission on an ER network link by the SIM of FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network employing the Quantum Flow Control (QFC) flow-control protocol. Three ATM subnetworks 10-1, 10-2 and 10-3 communicate via respective sets of ATM links 12-12 and 12-23. Switches 14 are shown at the “edges”, or boundaries, of the subnetworks 10. Switch 14-11 in subnetwork 10-1 communicates with a user device 16-1 via a User-Network Interface (UNI) on ATM links 12-10. Similarly, switch 14-33 in subnetwork 10-3 communicates with a user device 16-3 via a UNI on ATM links 12-30. Switches 14-12 and 14-21 communicate with each other via a Private Network-to-Network Interface (PNNI) on ATM links 12-12, and switches 14-23 and 14-32 communicate via a PNNI on ATM links 12-23. As shown, the QFC protocol is employed on the ATM links 12-12 and 12-23, and is also used within each subnetwork 10.

The switches 14 shown in FIG. 1 generally employ the QFC protocol on each attached link having a QFC-capable device on the other end. If the device on the other end of a given link is not capable of operating using the QFC protocol, then the switch 14 operates the link in accordance with the ATM standard but without use of the QFC protocol. If a switch 14 were to be operated in a network in which the Explicit Rate (ER) protocol is employed, the ER protocol messages would simply pass through the switch and not affect its operation. As mentioned above, however, it is desirable that network switches include ER functionality in order to achieve the benefits of ER flow control within the network.

FIG. 2 shows an ATM network that employs both the QFC protocol and the ER protocol. Subnetworks 10-1′ and 10-3′ use the QFC flow-control protocol internally. An ER subnetwork 20 is coupled to the QFC subnetworks 10-1′ and 10-3′ in a similar fashion to the coupling of QFC subnetwork 10-2 of FIG. 1. Links 12-12′ and 12-23′ and switches 14-12′, 14-21′, 14-23′ and 14-32′ are similar to counterpart links and switches in FIG. 1, except for the use of ER rather than QFC flow-control functionality. The network configurations of FIGS. 1 and 2 are illustrative only; it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the methods and apparatus disclosed herein are more generally applicable in a variety of network configurations.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the switches 14′ of FIG. 2. A switch fabric 30 provides dynamically-configurable interconnections among a variety of circuit modules, including a switch control module or SCM 32, QFC-capable service interface modules (SIMs) 34-1 and 34-2, and an ER-capable SIM 36. As shown, the QFC SIMs 34 are connected to respective sets of QFC links 12, and the ER SIM 36 is connected to a set of ER links 12′. The SIMs 34 and 36 receive ATM cells from the respective links 12 and 12′, forward received cells to each other via the switch fabric 30 based on the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) contained in the cells, and transmit cells received from the switch fabric 30 onto the respective links 12 and 12′.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of a QFC SIM 34. On the receive side, ATM cells are received by a multiplexer-demultiplexer (MDM) 42 from physical-layer (PHY) receive circuitry (not shown), which is in turn coupled to respective ones of the ATM links 12. The MDM 42 forwards the cells to receive cell processing logic, referred to as a To-Switch Port Processor (TSPP) 44, via a UTOPIA bus referred to as the “M2T bus” 46. The TSPP 44 provides datapath and control logic for storing received cells in an associated memory 47 used for cell buffering, as well as for forwarding cells from the memory 47 to the switch fabric 30.

In the transmit direction, cells are received from the switch fabric 30 by transmit cell processing logic shown as a From Switch Port Processor (FSPP) 48. Cells are buffered in a memory 51, and then forwarded to the MDM 42 via a bus shown as the “F2M bus” 52. The MDM then forwards the cells to associated PHY transmit circuitry in the switch (not shown) over respective links 54, for ultimate transmission on a network link 12.

Both the TSPP 44 and the FSPP 48 contain flow-control logic that operates according to the QFC protocol. A T2F bus 50 and an F2T bus 56 provide for communications between TSPP 44 and FSPP 48, including the exchange of QFC link flow control information between the TSPP 44 and the FSPP 48. The link flow control is implemented by means of resource management (RM) flow control cells. When a predetermined number of cells have been transferred from the memory 47 to the switch fabric 30 by the TSPP 44, the TSPP 44 sends a message indicating this fact to the FSPP 48 via the T2F bus 52. The FSPP 48 in turn generates a QFC Buffer State Update (BSU) message containing a corresponding number of transmission credits, and transmits the BSU message to an upstream transmitter on an associated link 12. The upstream transmitter uses the credits to replenish a credit pool used to control the transmission of cells. In accordance with the QFC protocol, cells can be transmitted on the link only as long as credits are available in the credit pool. Credits are consumed by the transmission of cells, and replenished by the BSU messages. If the number of credits in the credit pool diminishes to zero, cell transmission ceases until additional credits are received via a BSU message.

The TSPP 44 is also responsible for receiving RM flow control cells from the upstream node and forwarding these to the FSPP 48. The FSPP 48 uses the credits in these RM cells to replenish its pool of transmission credits, and thereby control its transmission of cells on the link 12.

The TSPP 44 and FSPP 48 participate in an XOFF/XON flow control protocol used internally within the switch. If the FSPP 48 does not have the resources to receive a cell from a TSPP 44 within the switch, the FSPP 48 transmits an XOFF indication. The absence of an XOFF signal indicates that resources are available at FSPP 48 and the cell can be received through the switch fabric 30. Once an XOFF signal is sent for a connection, transmission for that connection is generally discontinued until the connection receives an XON signal. When FSPP 48 sends an XOFF signal for a connection, the connection is marked so that when resources become available (i.e. cells are forwarded out of the memory 51), an XON signal can be sent for that connection.

QFC flow control information is sent to the FSPP 48 from the TSPP 44 via the T2F bus 50 in the form of transactions containing records of two different types: Buffer State Forward Records (BSFRs) and Buffer State Dispatch Records (BSDRs). Each type of record contains information at both the connection level and the link level. The BSDR records are sent in response to the receipt by the TSPP of a QFC BSU from the upstream receiver. These records contain credits which are used to replenish the transmission credit pool of the FSPP 48. The BSFRs contain the information about cells being forwarded out of the memory 47 by the TSPP. The FSPP 48 responds to the BSFRs by creating corresponding QFC BSU cells and transmitting them to the upstream transmitter on the link 12.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the ER SIM 36 of FIG. 3. The ER SIM 36 in the illustrated embodiment uses the same MDM 42, TSPP 44 and FSPP 48 as used on a QFC SIM 34. Additionally, a logic block identified as ER Virtual Source/Virtual Destination (ER VS/VD) logic 140 resides between the MDM 42 and both the TSPP 44 and FSPP 48. The single M2T bus 46 of the QFC SIM 34 (FIG. 4) is replaced by a pair of identical buses shown in FIG. 5 as the “M2E bus” 142 and the “E2T” bus 144. Similarly, the single F2M bus 52 is replaced by a pair of identical buses shown as the “F2E bus” 146 and the “E2M” bus 148. While the F2T bus 56 remains unchanged, the T2F bus 60 of the QFC SIM 34 is replaced by a pair of buses referred to as the “T2E bus” 150 and the “E2F bus” 152, extending between the TSPP 44 and the ER VS/VD 140 as shown.

The function of the ER VS/VD 140 is twofold. For QFC links, the ER VS/VD 140 acts in a transparent manner. Cells received from the MDM 42 are forwarded to the TSPP 44, and cells received from the FSPP 48 are forwarded to the MDM 42. Similarly, RM cells received from the TSPP 44 via the T2E bus 150 are simply forwarded on to the FSPP 48 via the E2F bus 152. In this manner, the ER VS/VD 140 enables the ER SIM 36 to operate with QFC links.

The ER SIM 36 can also support ER links. For ER links, the ER VS/VD 140 carries out ER flow control processing with the assistance of the existing QFC functionality of the TSPP 44 and FSPP 48. In particular, the ER VS/VD 140 extracts the forward resource management (FRM) and backward resource management (BRM) cells from the cell stream received via the M2E bus 142; performs a variety of ER processing functions based in part on the buffer state information received from the TSPP 44 via the T2E bus 150; sends messages to the FSPP 48 via the E2F bus 152 in order to control the cell transmission rate and to create dummy RM cells in the transmitted cell stream; and replaces the dummy RM cells with outgoing FRM and BRM cells as required by the ER protocol. These operations are described in more detail below.

The structure of the ER VS/VD 140 is shown in FIG. 6. Cells received from the MDM 42 via the M2E bus 142 are stored in an input cell buffer 160. The input cell buffer 160 feeds error checking logic 162 that performs header error control (HEC) checking and cyclical redundancy code (CRC) checking. The input cell buffer 160 also feeds a logic block 164 that decodes received ER Resource Management (RM) cells, extracts information from the fields of the received RM cells, and provides control functions as subsequently described. A null cell generator 166 is used to generate null cells under the control of the logic block 164 and provide them to multiplexers 168 and 170. The multiplexer 168 selects cells from either the input cell buffer 160 or the null cell generator 166 and provides the selected cells to a cell buffer 172, which in turn sends cells to the TSPP 44 of FIG. 5 via the E2T bus 144.

The multiplexer 170 selects cells from either the logic block 164 or the null cell generator 166 and provides them to a cell buffer 174. Cells received via the T2E bus 150 and the F2E bus 146 are buffered in respective cell buffers 176 and 178. Multiplexers 180 and 182 are used to select the source of cells for the E2F bus 152 and the E2M bus 148, respectively. The multiplexer 180 selects between cells from the cell buffer 176 and Resource Management (RM) cells from RM Cell Scheduler logic 184. The multiplexer 182 selects between cells from the cell buffer 178 and RM cells from RM Cell Formatter and CRC logic 186. The output of the multiplexer 182 is provided to an output cell buffer 188, the output of which is provided to the E2M bus 148.

RM cell decoder logic 190 detects RM cells received from the FSPP 48 via the F2E bus 146, and provides indications thereof to VS/VD control logic 192 that controls the operation of the various ER VS/VD elements shown in FIG. 6. Header generator logic 194 creates RM cell headers from the information in RM cells received from the cell buffer 178, and provides the generated headers to the RM cell formatting logic 186. A set of calculators 196 are used to carry out special calculations needed by the control logic 192 to implement the ER functionality described herein. The nature of these calculations and the related operations are described below.

Although the ER VS/VD logic 140 can be thought of accurately as a single functional entity, it may be advantageous nonetheless for this logic to be implemented using multiple integrated circuits. For example, it may be beneficial to partition this logic at the output of the multiplexer 170, as indicated by dotted line 198. Such physical partitioning can help to reduce costs by reducing the requirements for input/output pins and/or circuit area for any single integrated circuit.

The ER-related operation of the ER SIM 36 is described below with reference to the block diagrams of FIGS. 5 and 6. The following four sets of messaging-related operations are described: (1) processing of cells received via the M2E bus 142; (2) processing of cells received via the F2E bus 146; (3) processing of cells received via the T2E bus 150; and (4) processing of cells scheduled by the RM cell scheduling logic 184. Additionally, certain operations of the calculator logic 196 as they relate to converting between rate-based and credit-based flow control are described below.

FIG. 7 illustrates the processing of cells received from the MDM 42 via the M2E bus 142. At step 200, the cells are stored in the cell buffer 160, and at steps 202 and 204 the logic block 164 determines whether the link on which the cell has been received is enabled for ER operation. If not, at step 206 the cell is placed into the output cell buffer 172 via the multiplexer 168, and forwarded to the TSPP 44 via the E2T bus 144.

If the link is an ER link, then at steps 208, 210, 212 and 214 the error checking logic 162 performs header error control (HEC) and payload CRC error checking. If either of these fails, then at step 216 or 218 the cell is sent to the TSPP 44 via the cell buffer 172. Additionally, the logic block 164 generates an “update” cell of type “null” and sends it to the VS/VD control logic 192 via the multiplexer 170 and cell buffer 174. The functions of null cells are explained below.

If the error checks succeed, then at steps 220 and 222 the RM cell decode logic in logic block 164 determines whether the received cell is an RM cell. If not, it is inferred that the cell is a data cell. In this case, then at steps 224, 226 and 228 the cell is sent to the TSPP 44 via the cell buffer 172, and an update cell of type “data” is sent to the VS/VD control logic 192. The data update cell contains a link number and a VPI/VCI pair associated with the cell, which are used by the VS/VD control logic 192 for maintaining ER-related information as described below.

If the received cell is recognized by the logic block 164 as an RM cell, then at steps 230, 232 and 234 an update cell of type “RM” is created and sent to the VS/VD control logic 192. This update cell contains the link number and VPI/VCI, as well as information from several other cell fields as follows: Backward Error Correction Notification (BECN), Congestion Indication (CI), No Increase (NI) indicator, Current Cell Rate (CCR), and Explicit Rate (ER). Additionally, a null cell is created by null cell generator 166 and placed in the output cell buffer 172 for transmission to the TSPP 44.

A null cell is a cell for which the header is all zeros (so that VPI=VCI=0, for example), which is created to replace a cell being removed from the data path for some reason. For example, if an FRM cell is received in the data path, information from the cell is sent to the VS/VD control logic 192, and the cell is replaced with a null cell to force the TSPP 44 to ignore it. This ensures that the cell is not counted for purposes of flow control, and in fact is not processed in any way by the TSPP 44. Sometimes a null cell is sent to the VS/VD control logic 192. In this case, the null cell informs the logic 192 to ignore the corresponding time slot and do nothing. This action is taken for bad cells or null cells received from the MDM 42.

When the control logic 192 receives an update cell via the cell buffer 174 (steps 236 and 238), two sets of actions are taken in parallel. The first set of actions begins at step 240. The VPI/VCI and link number are applied to a virtual translation table (VXT), which yields an identifier for the connection used only within the ER SIM 36. At step 242, this identifier is used to access a “queue descriptor”, which is described briefly below. In particular, several ER-related fields of the queue descriptor are provided to the calculator logic 196 in preparation for a calculation of an updated allowed cell rate (ACR) as described below.

A queue descriptor in the VS/VD control logic 192 is a data structure containing control and current state information about a connection. For example, it contains several control values such as PCR, MCR, and congestion thresholds (see below), and a current credit count and BRM request pending flag as current state information. Each queue descriptor is associated with a corresponding queue descriptor in the TSPP 44 for the same connection. There is one queue descriptor for each connection assigned by call control software.

The second set of actions taken after step 238 begins at step 244. The update RM cell is examined to determine its type, upon which subsequent actions depend. There are three types of update cells: Null, Data and RM. At steps 246 and 248, null cells are detected and discarded (shown as no operation or NOP in FIG. 7). If the cell is a Data cell, then in step 250 a counter that is used to count received data cells, shown as “rx_counter”, is incremented. The rx_counter is maintained in the queue descriptor for the connection. If the cell is a backward-type RM (BRM) cell (step 260), then at step 262 an ACR calculation is triggered as described below, and the queue descriptor is updated. If the cell is a forward-type RM (FRM) cell, then at step 264 the queue descriptor is updated to indicate that a turnaround BRM cell should be scheduled by the cell scheduler 184.

FIG. 8 shows the processing of buffer state cells (BSDRs and BSFRs) received from the TSPP 44 via the T2E bus 150. At steps 270 and 272, it is determined whether the associated link is an ER link. If not, then at step 274 the cell is passed to the FSPP 48 via the multiplexer 180 and the E2F bus 152. Otherwise, at step 276 the rx_counter in the queue descriptor associated with the connection is updated, and the cell is not forwarded to the FSPP 48.

The rate at which BSFR records are sent by the TSPP 44 may be fixed or variable, and may be subject to software control via a programmable control register for example. When the link is an ER link, it is preferable that the TSPP 44 generate BSFR records at fairly short intervals, such as one BSFR record for every cell that is forwarded out of the cell buffer memory 47. This enables the ER VS/VD logic 140 to more accurately track actual buffer usage, and thereby operate the network link as close as possible to an optimum rate for a given set of operating conditions.

FIG. 9 illustrates the processing of cells received from the FSPP 48 via the F2E bus 146. At steps 280 and 282, the cell is stored in the cell buffer 178. At steps 284 and 286, it is determined whether the associated link is an ER link. If not, then at step 288 the cell is forwarded on to the MDM 42 via the cell buffer 188 and E2M bus 148. If the link is an ER link, then at steps 290 and 300 a determination is made whether the cell is a Buffer State Usage (BSU) RM cell generated by the QFC logic within the FSPP 48. If not, the cell is treated as a “data” cell, being forwarded at step 288 to the MDM 42 via the cell buffer 188 and E2M bus 148. Also, at step 294 the cell's VPI and VCI values are used to perform a lookup in the VXT. The VXT provides an indication whether the connection is an ER connection (step 296). If not, then no operation is performed with respect to the queue descriptors (step 297). If the connection is an ER connection, at step 298 the current credit count in the queue descriptor associated with the connection is updated to reflect the sending of the data cell.

The BSU RM cells received from the FSPP 48 are generated by the FSPP 48 in response to a BSFR generated by the RM cell scheduler 184. Each received BSU RM cell is converted into an ER RM cell and sent to the MDM 42 in the following manner. At step 300, the VPI and VCI are extracted from the cell, and at step 294 these are used for a VXT lookup. The VXT lookup returns a queue descriptor used at steps 302 and 304 to determine the type of RM cell (BRM or FRM) scheduled for output, as indicated by the RM cell scheduler 184. The queue descriptor provides values used by the calculators 196 as described below, and values used by the RM cell formatter 186 (step 298) for populating various ER fields (ER, NI, etc.) in the outgoing RM cell. At steps 306 and 308, the header generator logic 194 generates a new header based on the received BSU RM cell and provides the header to the RM cell formatter 186. At steps 310 and 312, the RM cell formatter 186 creates either an FRM or BRM cell, as dictated by RM cell scheduler 184, using the header from the header generator logic 194 and the ER field values from the queue descriptor. The FRM or BRM cell, along with a CRC value generated by CRC logic within the logic block 186 (step 314), is then placed in the cell buffer 188 and sent to the MDM 42.

The VS/VD control logic 192 and calculators 196 are responsible for generating and using the values in the various flow-control messages (both ER-related and QFC-related) to effect the necessary control over cell transmission rate in both directions on an ER link. From the perspective of the TSPP 44 and FSPP 48, an ER link appears to be a QFC link. In particular, the FSPP 48 only emits cells for transmission when it has credits, which are obtained from the BSDR records received via the E2F bus 152. For each connection on an ER link, a value known as the Allowed Cell Rate (ACR) is maintained within the corresponding queue descriptor (not shown) maintained in the VS/VD control logic 192. The ACR is a dynamic value that is re-calculated periodically in a manner described below. As a general matter, the VS/VD control logic 192 issues credits to the FSPP 48 at a frequency equivalent to the ACR. In order to avoid a phenomenon referred to as “cell clumping”, a refinement to this general scheme is used as described below.

A variety of information is maintained in the queue descriptor for each connection, and used as described below. This information is identified as follows:

ACR Allowed cell rate PCR Peak cell rate MCR Minimum cell rate ICR Initial cell rate RDF Rate of Decrease factor, used for ACR adjustment RIF Rate of Increase factor, also used to adjust ACR CDF Cutoff Decrease factor, also used to adjust ACR N_(RM) Max. # of data cells per FRM cell T_(RM) Max. time allowed between FRM cells CI Congestion Indication from most recent cell NI No Increase indication from most recent cell ER Explicit Rate from most recent cell CCR Current Cell Rate from most recent cell BPL Buffer Pool limit BPC Current buffer pool usage CNGTHR Congestion threshold control SF Slower Factor RTHR Rising/Rising Fast Threshold control

PCR and MCR are configuration parameters for the connection. The actual cell transmission rate, along with the ACR and ICR values, are always between the respective values of PCR and MCR. RDF, RIF, CDF, N_(RM), BPL, CNGTHR, SF, and RTHR are also configuration parameters, used as described below.

FIG. 10 illustrates the general relationships among N_(RM) and the data cells, FRM cells, and BRM cells transmitted on a link for a connection. The length of each period T0, T1, etc. is equal to N_(RM)/ACR. In the scenario shown in FIG. 10, it is assumed that at the beginning of period T0, no BRM cell is scheduled to be returned, but a BRM becomes scheduled by the beginning of T1. This situation can occur, for example, immediately after cell transmission on a connection is initiated or is resumed after a period of inactivity. It is further assumed in FIG. 10 that the link has multiple active connections, so that the data cells are spaced apart by normal cell scheduling operations, and that the connection is running at exactly the ACR. If the connection is running slower, the sending of the BRM and FRM cells is generally delayed in time, until after N_(RM)-1 data cells have been sent. However, if the predetermined timeout value T_(RM) (see list above) is reached before N_(RM)-1 data cells have been sent, an FRM and BRM (if scheduled) are sent without any further waiting. The issuing of credits is not affected; the VS/VD control logic 192 continues to wait until the present credit allocation is used up before issuing another set of credits to the FSPP 48.

If the link usage is relatively low during a given period Tx, an active connection may receive more cell-sending opportunities than shown in FIG. 10. In this case, the FSPP 48 tends to emit the N_(RM)-1 data cells in a burst at the beginning of the time period, rather than in the evenly-spaced fashion shown in FIG. 10. This cell transmission pattern is termed “clumping”. It is desirable to control the amount of clumping in order to avoid “jitter” in the cell stream, which can cause timing problems and/or other difficulties in equipment receiving the cell stream.

The permissible amount of clumping on a connection is specified by a configuration parameter known as Cell Delay Variation Tolerance (CDVT). From the CDVT, the VS/VD control logic 192 calculates a number N that represents the maximum number of cells that can be sent back-to-back. N is calculated as a function of the connection ACR and the link cell rate (LCR) as follows: $N = \frac{CDVT}{\left\lbrack {\left( \frac{1}{ACR} \right) - \left( \frac{1}{LCR} \right)} \right\rbrack}$

As described below, the ACR is re-calculated in response to each received BRM cell. Therefore, it is generally necessary to re-calculate N upon receipt of each BRM cell.

N is used to calculate the number of credits, C, that can be issued to the FSPP 48 at any one time. If N is greater than N_(RM), then C is set equal to N_(RM). Otherwise C is set equal to the largest integer factor of N_(RM) that is less than N. Each period Tx is then divided into N_(RM)/C (where/mean division) equal-size sub-intervals, and credits are issued in sets of C every sub-interval, as shown in FIG. 11. For example, if N is calculated as 5 and N_(RM) is 32, C is set equal to 4, and 4 credits are issued during each of 8 successive sub-intervals within each period Tx. Clumping is reduced by a factor of 8 over what it might otherwise be.

The primary adjustment of the ACR is done in response to the receipt of a BRM, and is described below. Additionally, there are two other cases in which the ACR is adjusted. First, the ACR is set equal to ICR for the very first FRM cell sent on a connection (e.g. immediately after initialization), and for the first FRM cell sent after a long period of inactivity on the connection. The second case arises when a predetermined number of FRM cells have been sent without a BRM cell's having been received. In this case, the ACR is decreased as follows:

ACR=max(ACR−(ACR*CDF), MCR)

where CDF is specified by the ATM Forum to be either 0 or a fraction 2^(−n), 0≦n≦6.

When a BRM cell is received, the ACR is conditionally modified depending on the values of the CI and NI indicators and the ER value in the BRM cell. If the CI bit is set, the ACR is reduced as follows:

ACR=min(max(ACR−(ACR*RDF), MCR), ER)

If both CI and NI are equal to zero, the ACR is increased according to the following equation:

ACR=min(min(ACR+(PCR*RIF), PCR), ER)

The new ACR value is stored in the queue descriptor for the connection and used to control cell transmission rate by the FSPP 48 as described above.

Operation according to the Explicit Rate protocol requires that a Virtual Destination (VD) compute an explicit rate (ER), a congestion indication (CI) and a no increase (NI) indication, and place these values into BRM cells being sent by the Virtual Source (VS). In general, these values are set in a manner that tends to maximize cell transmission rate and to minimize the risk of cell loss resulting from lack of buffer space in the cell buffer memory 47. For each BRM cell, these values are computed to achieve one of the following four effects at the opposite (VS/VD) end of the connection:

Faster—Increase the ACR as needed

Same—Maintain the same ACR

Slower—Decrease the ACR as needed

Kill—Reduce ACR to the Minimum Cell Rate (MCR)

In order to decide which of the four above effects is desired, the ER VS/VD logic 140 considers both the current level of cell buffer utilization, referred to below as “congestion”, along with the rate and direction of change of buffer utilization. The monitoring and characterization of these values are described in turn below.

The congestion status is characterized as either Not Congested, Congested, or Severely Congested. The thresholds that determine the appropriate description to use are programmable by a 2-bit CNGTHR control value in accordance with the following table:

CNGTHR Not Congested Congested Severely Congested 00 0 -> 100% n/a n/a 01 0 -> 24% 25% -> 49% 50% -> 100% 10 0 -> 49% 50% -> 74% 75% -> 100% 11 0 -> 74% 75% -> 99% 100%

Thus for example, if CNGTHR is set to “01”, the status is “Not Congested” when cell buffer utilization is below 25%, “Congested” when utilization is between 25% and 49%, and “Severely Congested” when utilization is 50% or more. If CNGTHR is set to “00”, the status is “Not Congested” regardless of the level of buffer utilization. This feature provides a measure of software control over the operation of the ER hardware.

In addition to the current utilization status, the rate at which buffer utilization is changing is monitored and characterized according to the definitions below. In each case, the current count of buffered cells is compared to the count as it existed when the immediately preceding BRM cell for the connection was generated.

Dropping—Buffered cell count has decreased

Constant—Buffered cell count has not changed

Rising—Buffered cell count has increased by no more than a specified threshold value (see below)

Rising Fast—Buffered cell count has increased by more than the specified threshold value

The threshold value is defined as a percentage of the buffer space allocated to the connection that remained unutilized when the preceding BRM cell was sent. In the illustrated embodiment, this value is programmable in accordance with the value of RTHR as follows:

RTHR Percentage 00 12.5 01 25 10 50 11 75

Thus, if RHTR is set to 10, the rate-of-change description is “Rising” when the buffer utilization has increased by less than 25% of the remaining buffer capacity, and is “Rising Fast” when the buffer utilization has increased by 25% or more of the remaining capacity.

The VS/VD control logic 192 determines whether the transmission rate for the connection should be made Faster, the Same, Slower, or Killed according to the following matrix:

Dropping Constant Rising Rising Fast Not Congested Faster Faster Same Slower Congested Faster Same Slower Kill Severely Same Slower Kill Kill Congested

Based on the desired effect as determined from this matrix, the VS/VD control logic 192 then must compute the ER, NI and CI values to be included in the outgoing BRM. These computations, described below, rely on the following parameters:

T=Time between FRM cells

C=# of forwarded data cell in time T

K1=(Severely Congested threshold)—(current cell count)

K2=C*SF

where SF is a programmable “Slower Factor” control representing a percentage value as follows:

SF Percentage 00 3.125 01 6.25 10 12.5 11 25

The VS/VD Control Logic 192 calculates the Explicit Rate (ER) value for the outgoing BRM cell according to the following table:

Desired Effect ER Value Faster (C + K1)/T Same C/T Slower (C − K2)/T Kill MCR

The CI and NI values to be included in the BRM cell are determined according to the following:

Desired Effect CI NI Faster 0 0 Same 0 1 Slower * 1 Kill 1 1 *0 if Not Congested; otherwise 1

The remote transmitter uses the CI, NI and ER values from the BRM cell to control its transmission in accordance with the ER protocol. It may be that the remote interface to the link is another ER SIM 36, in which case the transmitter operation is controlled as described above. Other interface logic may behave slightly differently, although still in conformance with the ER protocol.

Methods and apparatus for transmitting cells to control cell clumping have been shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications to and variations of the above-described techniques are possible without departing from the inventive concepts disclosed herein. Accordingly, the invention should be viewed as limited solely by the scope and spirit of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. In a network device operable according to a rate-based flow-control protocol requiring the sending of a flow control cell on a connection of a data link in each group of no more than a predetermined number N_(max) of cells sent on the connection, a method of controlling the transmission of cells on the connection in each of successive intervals, comprising: calculating a maximum number N of cells permitted to be transmitted as a group of consecutive cells in the interval, N being calculated based on a generally variable allowed cell rate (ACR) prevailing for the connection for the interval; calculating a value C equal to an integer factor of N_(max) that is no greater than N; and transmitting no more than C cells on the connection in each of N_(max)/C sub-intervals of the interval.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein calculating N comprises dividing a predetermined cell delay variation tolerance (CDVT) by the difference between the reciprocal of the ACR and the reciprocal of a link cell rate (LCR).
 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein N is set equal to the number N_(max) if the result of the dividing is greater than number N_(max).
 4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising establishing the ACR at the beginning of each interval in response to the receipt of a corresponding flow-control cell from the connection.
 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein establishing the ACR in response to the flow-control cell comprises: if the flow-control cell indicates that the ACR is to be decreased, then decreasing the ACR by a first predetermined multiplicative factor; and if the flow-control cell indicates that the ACR is to be increased, then increasing the ACR by a second predetermined multiplicative factor.
 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein (i) the ACR is decreased by the first predetermined multiplicative factor only if the ACR as so decreased is no less than a predetermined minimum cell rate (MCR) for the connection, and (ii) the ACR is increased by the second predetermined multiplicative factor only if the ACR as so increased is no greater than a predetermined peak cell rate (PCR) for the connection, and further comprising: setting the ACR to the MCR if the ACR as decreased by the first predetermined multiplicative factor is less than the MCR; and setting the ACR to the PCR if the ACR as increased by the second predetermined multiplicative factor is greater than the PCR.
 7. A method according to claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a flow-control cell on the connection at the beginning of an interval if N_(max) cells have been sent on the connection in the preceding interval; transmitting the flow-control cell on the connection at a time later than the beginning of the interval if fewer than N_(max) cells have been sent on the connection in the preceding interval, the flow-control cell being transmitted when N_(max) cells have been sent on the connection since the transmission of an immediately preceding flow-control cell on the connection.
 8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the flow-control cell is transmitted at a predetermined time after the end of the preceding interval if by such predetermined time N_(max) cells have not been sent on the connection since the transmission of the immediately preceding flow-control cell on the connection. 